The game was knotted at two as Robert Carson toed the rubber to start the fifth inning. Things immediately took a turn for the worse as the B-Mets starter walked the first two batters he faced, the eighth and ninth hitters in the New Britain order.

With runners at first and second, leadoff hitter Michael Hollimon rolled a bunt up the first base line. First baseman Allan Dykstra scooped up the ball on the foul line, but his toss to Josh Satin covering at first base sailed high.

As it rolled down the right field line, Chris Cates scampered to third and Daniel Rohlfing came home to score to give the Rock Cats a 3-2 lead. Hollimon was caught advancing as right fielder Carlos Guzman backed up the throw and threw out Hollimon for his third assist of the season.

After Robert Carson walked Chris Herrmann, manager Wally Backman brought in Rhiner Cruz for his Double-A debut. The right-hander started on the right foot by inducing Joe Benson to fly out, but things went south as the next three batters reached safely on two singles and a double.

By the time Cruz struck out Mark Dolenc to end the inning, the Rock Cats had converted four hits and a B-Mets error into five runs to take a 7-2 lead.

Trailing by five, the B-Mets chipped away at the deficit in the fifth with a modest two-out rally. Lorenzo Scott squirted one back up the middle off reliever Spencer Steedley and came home to score on Jordany Valdespin’s triple to right field.

In the eighth, Binghamton used the long ball to cut the margin in half. After Valdespin greeted Cole DeVries with a double to left field, Brahiam Maldonado followed with a blast over the left field wall for his ninth home run of the season.

The momentum would be short-lived as the Rock Cats added an insurance run in the ninth off Ricky Brooks to take an 8-5 lead and DeVries struck out the side in order to close things out in the ninth.

B-Mets shortstop Jordany Valdespin was left just a single short of the cycle and missed getting the chance to bat in the ninth by two batters. The Dominican native homered to lead things off in the first, tripled in the fifth, and doubled in the eighth.

B-Mets starter Robert Carson took the loss. The left-hander was tagged for five runs (four earned) on six hits and a season-high five walks over 4.1 innings. Caron’s counterpart, spot-starter Brett Jacobson allowed two runs on four hits over 4.0 innings in his first professional start. Spencer Steedley earned his first win for New Britain.